Fixing the Unfixable
by Percabeth17
Summary: One-shot on Leo and Nico finally seeing their differences and accepting their similarities. House of Hades spoilers.


Sorry if it sounds like crap. Also some House of Hades spoilers.

Leo's POV.

Leo knew something was wrong. It was like when Festus malfunctioned: the droopiness of his face, the eerie silence, the way he lethargically moved, everything he did reminded him of a failing machine. Yet every day, he would keep moving on: attend the meetings, eat meals (even if it was a little portion), do regular activities, look-out for enemies. That was before the House of Hades, however. But then again, he seemed dreading the moment of the House even before they reached it in Epirus. He was like a wind-up toy that seemed to just completely die when they reached Epirus.

_But why?_ It didn't matter. Leo couldn't stand to see someone completely shut down at the most crucial and pivotal moment of the war. Sure he's been stuck in a jar for what, a month? Sure he's lost his sister to the leader of the seven. Sure his father was the god of the Underworld. _So what?_ Leo questioned. Everyone here has lost someone important.

But that was when Jason had told him something in private. "He had a crush on Percy" He had told Leo.  
"What?" Leo replied in disbelief. "You don't mean…"  
"Don't tell him I told you," He said quietly. "It's been rough for him the past few years"

Leo finally understood why the wind-up toy was slowly failing. The pressure of everything. Annabeth and Percy. Percy and Annabeth. Finally meeting him in Rome, and then the fall into Tartarus. The road to Epirus. The ordeal with Cupid/Eros Jason had briefly explained. Finally rescuing them. Finally understand the truth that it'll never work.

Nico reminded him heavily of a piece of scrap metal that would – in a landfill – be normally exposed to the elements. Nico was easily rusting away from the storms and heavy rain from Percy. Lost in a dark dreary world when suddenly the piece of scrap metal becomes the conductor for the bright and powerful lightning of Jason.

And then of course there was Leo. A median in which could easily break or repair the discarded and abandoned piece of metal. As if Leo was in an auction, he could either spend all this time trying to make the rusted piece of scrap shine and glow again or could let it go untreated till it was completely and utterly hopeless. His flames could melt away the very last bonds that supported him or could mend and wield the corrosion and holes that was a result of Percy's ignorance.

But that was the tricky part. How do you mend a person – a human being – who has been completely stripped down to where almost nothing was left? Human beings who are so complex and distinct that they are on a whole different level of machines. What was the best way to handle this kind of machine? Is there even a possible way to express the correct way to handle a situation like this?

In an auction for scrap metal you either have the patience, money and time to fix it or you don't. But with a human that symbolized and represented scrap metal, you could have all three and yet never improve the condition of life for a person like that – even just a smidgeon – because no matter how advance you are socially, you can never quite fit into someone's shoes.

You can't tell an animate object that everything will be alright, or that you'll be alright. You can promise anything in the world to an inanimate object, but you can never promise a definite future to a human so complex.

Besides, what could a son of Hephaestus do? His father even mentioned he was incapable of fixing a human being. How could Leo just sit there and watch Nico rot away?

But then again, a part of Leo deep down saw himself - a reflection in the scrap metal – in Nico. After the fire that killed his mother, Leo was completely lost and broken inside. Nico somehow resembled that, but Nico's pain was more or less different. Both of them had lost someone they truly loved, but it was different kind-of _love_. Sure it was different, but love is love. It's still the same. Spelled the same, pronounced the same, and defined the same. Either way Leo look at it they both lost to love.

Leo needed to find a way to tell him that. To get him to understand and accept this inevitable fact.

"Sup," Leo said the next time he saw Nico zoning-out on the deck of the Argo II.

Nico turned his head slowly as if still in a daze, when he mumbled in reply. "Ya"

Leo believed he was thinking about Percy and Annabeth, but mostly Percy. "You know, you should really… eat more," Leo tried to break the ice. It was the only thing he could really think of.

Nico just stared at him blankly. Finally he sighed loudly and looked away, "Why would you care?"

Leo's eyebrows shot up. "Well, I _am_ the one who invented scrawny. And at this rate, I'm going to lose to that title," he tried humor. _No luck_. Leo thought of his last resort. Just tell him bluntly and upfront. _Straight and fast_ **(A/N: Looking for Alaska reference).**

"You know Nico," Leo said. "We're all different. I'm a son of Hephaestus; Frank's a son of Mars, Jason and Jupiter, Piper and Aphrodite, and so forth. But you know what? Because we're different, it sort-of makes us the same. You understand? I mean we're all equal human beings that are slightly different, and in this complex world, the fact that we are unfixable makes us the same, _regardless_ of our differences."

Nico let that sink in his head for a while. "Are you trying to be a philosopher?"

Leo noticed the little smirk that forming on the Ghost King's face. "Hazel asked me the same thing. I'm just the little repair boy trying to fix unfixable things. That's all."


End file.
